8.) Realistic novel Henry Fielding

English realistic novel, Henry Fielding, The Sentimentalists

The development of the english realistic novel.

The foundations of early bourgeois realism were laid by Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift but their novels, though of a new type and with a new hero, were based on imaginary voyages and adventures supposed to take place far from England. Gradually the readers' tastes changed. They wanted to find more and more of their own life reflected in literature, that is to say, the everyday life of a bourgeois family with its joys and sorrows. These demands were satisfied when the great novels of Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett appeared one after another. They marked a new stage in the development of the art of writing. The greatest merit of these novelists lies in their deep sympathy for the common man, the man in the street, who had become the central figure of the new bourgeois world. The common man is shown in his actual surroundings, which makes him so convincing, believable and true to life.

Henry Fielding. His life and work.

Henry Fielding, the greatest representative of bourgeois realism in the 18th century, was a descendant of an ancient, aristocratic family. He studied at the old-established boys' school of Eton.

At the age of twenty he started writing for the stage, and his first play "Love in Several Masques" was a great success with the public. The same year he entered the philological faculty of the University at Leyden, but in less than two years he had to drop his studies because he was unable to pay his fees.

From 1728 till 1738, twenty-five plays were written by Fielding. In his best comedies: "A Judge Caught in His Own Trap"(173O), "Don Quixote in England" (1734), and “'Pasquin" (1736). He mercilessly exposed the English court of law, the parliamentary system, the corruption of state officials. As a result of the popular success of Fielding's comedies, strict censorship was introduced, which put an end to Fielding's career as a dramatist. He was obliged to think how to earn his living. He tried his pen as a novelist; besides, at the age of thirty he became a student of a University law faculty. On graduating, he became a barrister and in 1748 accepted the post of magistrate. This work enlarged his experience, helped him to acquire a better understanding of human nature and greatly increased his hatred of social injustice. Being unable to do away with social evils, he exposed them in his books. In the period from 1742 to 1752 Fielding wrote his best novels: "Joseph Andrews" (1742) "The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great" (1743), "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling” (1749), "Amelia" (1752). All these novels, excellent as they were, didn't make him rich: only his publishers prospered Fielding continued to act as a judge till the year 1754, when he had to leave England for Portugal to restore his health, which had begun to fail. But the warm climate of the country did not help him, he died in Lisbon in October, 1754 and was buried there. Fielding possessed qualities rarely found together: a rich imaginations great critical power, a keen knowledge of the human heart. He used to say that the three essential qualities in a novelist are genius, learning and experience of human nature. The qualities of candour and sincerity are especially apparent in Fielding's works. His characters are living beings of flesh and blood, a combination of contradictions of good and bad He appreciates such virtues as courage, frankness and generosity. The most detestable vices for him are selfishness and hypocrisy He can forgive frivolity and light-mindedness, but he has no pity for actions which arise from calculating or conventional motives. All this found the expression in Fielding's masterpiece "Tom Jones".

The novel consists of 18 books, each beginning with an introductory chapter where the author discourses with the reader, m a free and easy manner, on certain-moral and psychological themes. The plot of the novel is very complicated, its construction is carefully worked out every detail is significant. Depicting England of the 18th century, Fielding touches upon all spheres of life. We are shown the courts of law, the prison, the church, the homes of people of all classes, inns and highways, even the theatre. Many people of different social ranks and professions are introduced. The charm of the book lies in the depiction of Tom's character. He is human in the everyday sense of the word, neither idealized nor ridiculed and at the same time full-blooded. His open, generous and passionate nature leads him into a lone series of adventures. Tom acts on impulse, sometimes well and sometimes ill, but never from interested motives. He is light- minded and naive, but kind, honest and unselfish, always ready to help anyone who needs his assistance. Heaps of misfortunes happen to him, he makes fault after fault, because he falls a victim of prejudice. His intentions are noble and good, he is simple-hearted, and it is often coupled with bad luck, he is accused of vices he is not guilty of.

9.) The Romantic movement in literature began around the end of the 18th century in Western Europe and flourished in the first half of the 19th century. It was in part a rebellion against the Enlightenment of the previous century and its focus on scientific and rational thought. Romantic literature is characterized by an emphasis on emotion, passion, and the natural world. Nationalism was an important factor in the Romantic movement, and many authors turned to folk tales and native mythologies as source material. A return to the aesthetics and ethos of the medieval period also featured strongly in the Romantic sensibility.

Some of the earliest examples of Romantic literature emerged in Germany, where the most important literary figure of the period was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), about a young, sensitive artist, was popular throughout Europe. Goethe also used myth and local folklore as subjects for his poetry and helped inspire a sense of German nationalism in the decades before a unified Germany. The American and French Revolutions in the late 18th century added to the popularity of such romantic ideals as freedom, liberty, and national pride.

Romanticism dominated English literature throughout the 19th century. Romantic poetry, in particular, is among the most important work of the period. Notable Romantic poets from Britain include William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. Common themes in their work include religious fervor, nature, Ancient Greek aesthetics, and emotional response to beauty. Romantic novels were also popular in 19th century Britain, often in the form of the Gothic novel, which exploited such emotions as fear and romantic love. Some well known examples are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (1847), and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847).

Romantic literature also flourished in the young United States. Much of it was also in the Gothic vein, such as the work of Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson stressed the beauty of nature and man's identity as a natural being, themes echoed in the later work of poet Walt Whitman. James Fennimore Cooper focused on the nationalist aspect of Romanticism with his tales of the American frontier and Native Americans.

Romanticism also influenced the literature of other countries, although not as extensively as those discussed above. In France, the novels of Victor Hugo and Stendhal showed some Romantic influence, but they are more often characterized as part of the Realist movement. In Eastern Europe, Russian writers Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov, as well as Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, were among the practitioners of the Romantic movement